How do new writers get published?

Wow. This post certainly taught me a lot about the publishing industry. Thanks. I’ve just finished my first novel (a fantasy quest novel at 82,000 words long) and am looking for an agent. Do you recommend I go the POD route? Or that I get an agent anyway?

First-timer

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Dear First-timer,

Sounds like you got a good length for a first novel. The first-time novelist is in a Catch-22. You need the prestige you can still get with a traditional publisher. Print-on-demand may get you a higher royalty, but no one will ever hear of it.

Since fantasy already has its own devoted community which supports the genre, and nobody has heard of you yet, I’d recommend you get an agent who sells fantasy and go the traditional route. That way, you can establish your reputation and go with POD with your second or third.

Being an unknown writer tilts the scales toward traditional publishing, and being a fantasy writer definitely cinches the deal. That genre has a whole market structure in place to present new writers to audiences, and the audience is ready to hear somebody new.

For you, I’d recommend getting an agent who knows the fantasy market.

If you write a uncategorizable literary novel, or if you command an audience but are still broke, ask me again.

Best of luck to you, brother,

Joe

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Joe,

I’m a first-time novelist out to try and land an agent. It’s in draft 3 and I’m having predictable results (meaning a lot of nos after buying that copy of the 2009 Writer’s Marketplace). I’m game to try different paths. I was talking with a sci-fi author, and he absolutely swears off self-publishing. Is Numina Press a self-publishing outfit?

Cheers,

Dan

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Hi Dan,

I own 375 rejection letters. My first novel published was my fifth novel written. Agents are inundated with dozens of queries, packages, manuscripts and threat letters every day. If you send out 20 queries, and get 20 rejections, it means 1 or 2 people even read it.

I also swear off self-publishing. Vanity publishing is when an author pays a publisher to publish him.

established authors. They want to scoop up the established authors who are

frustrated with traditional publishing.

For established (lucky) authors, traditional publishing is the new vanity publishing, because all you get is the prestige of being with a major press and a tiny royalty. With print-on-demand, you get the cache of being with an indie publisher, and a much higher royalty.

For you I’d recommend getting an agent, and don’t get discouraged by

100 rejections, because it means only 5 people even looked at your

proposal.

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Well thanks for that, Joe – I was beginning to think it was me.

I guess my frustration is that this is a numbers game. I’ve been through Writers Marketplace, put together a short list of 60+ agents and diligently contacted each. All fine and good– no response. I think I’ve got an interesting project, my kind reader/editor pool are all saying very nice things (and not just to humor me, they like this novel) and I’m just wondering “Now what?”

So I find myself at what is probably a familiar Catch-22: not writing because I’m trying to sell and I can’t justify continuing to attempt to sell because of no response – at what point do you chuck the project and start with something else?

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Hi Dan,

I went to Writer’s Marketplace and sent out 20 queries with the first

chapter at a time with an SASE. When I got about 10 rejections I sent

out another 20. It didn’t take that much time, because my query was

only one paragraph long and didn’t change, and the first chapter was

strong and didn’t change. It was just a matter of printing, signing,

enclosing, and walking to the post office to send 20 packages every 2

months. This was 15 years ago.

By the way, agents who rejected you a year ago won’t remember you this year. Many editors who rejected you two years ago don’t work there any more– that’s why the Writer’s Marketplace has to be updated every

year– so it’s time to send to them again.

I used to wait a year and send to agents again. I know a few writers who have funny stories about agents complaining that they never got a chance to see a manuscript that eventually made money, having no memory of turning it down.

Getting an agent does not mean your book will be sold. But a first-time novelist should get an agent.

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Joe,

All good points – I appreciate your input like you have no idea. Some people have put forth the idea that it’s easier to find an agent after you’ve located a publisher, meaning that you should be looking for a publisher at the same time. Is that incorrect?

Other people have said “You have no real writing credits behind you” and I fear that this might be hurting me as well. I’ve got some time in as an intern blogger for Gawker and I wrote a number of short stories that were picked up for indieblogger.com (now defunct) but writing and blogging and novel-writing all seem to be their own universes in the publishing world. Is there a required level of time spent getting published elsewhere before I attempt to sell this?

And how did you get away with a single paragraph query? I put out this page-long resume with my query after doing some reading on the topic and throwing anything I thought was relevant about getting the project sold – including what I’m doing to help sell it. Maybe the query’s a mess – I don’t know.

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Dear Dan,

Everything I say comes from what I learned before I sold my first book in 1996. Nevertheless, it still holds.

Forget publishers. The legit publishers use agents to vet. Any

particular agent you send to received 30 queries today. They don’t

have time to read any of them. They hire some intern just out of

college and say to her, “Go through this slush pile and show me two of

these a week.” The intern shuffles through 150 queries and shows 2 to

the boss. The boss may be captivated by one every couple months, and

write that author telling them to send the rest.

What this means is that queries in agents’ slush pile rooms compete for attention like books in a book store. How does a book sell itself in a

bookstore among thousands of books? With a page-long description? No. With a one-paragraph sum-up. Here’s mine:

Is a full life worth an early death? Jack Ostruck loves hang gliding,

but when someone he loves dies in a crash, the grieving mother demands

that Jack come to the funeral and explain why flying is worth her

child’s death. Jack’s search for the answer will take him to

mortuaries, mountaintops, an eagle’s nest, the heart of a storm, and

finally to a funeral, where he delivers the answer.

YOUR QUERY SHOULD LOOK LIKE WHAT YOU SEE ON THE BACK OF A PAPERBACK. Its only purpose is to get the intern to turn the page and read the first sentence of your book.

The intern will glance at your query letter for an instant and make a

decision. A witness described a slush pile intern not even taking the

query all the way out of the envelope– just pulling it out halfway to

read the first sentence or two, then shoving it back in with the

standard rejection letter.

Your job is to grab attention with the first line, first paragraph,

and cause them to read the first page of your book.

Your query letter is the cover copy on the paperback book jacket.

Even though most agents say they just want a query, what I did was

write my one-paragraph grabber, then enclose the first 15 pages of the

book. That was enough to (slightly) distinguish me from the crowd, such that 4 out of 25 agents asked to see the rest of the book. The other 21 rejected it or I never heard from them. (One got back to me 3 years

later and asked to see the book. I had to tell him the book came out

and made the bestseller list over a year before.)

So much tripe gets sent to agents, they approach the slush pile with

hate and resentment. Do no make them read a long sum-up. Grab their

attention with one paragraph– just like a book in a book store– then

they will turn the page and decide if they want to keep reading page

by page. Your first 5 pages has to be so compelling, it makes them forget all the other things they have to do. That is the magic of story.

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Joe:

What do I do with the 60-odd agents I queried, wait a year and submit again? Is there a protocol to follow when re-submitting? I picked the ones I thought would be most appropriate and all I have left are the agents that don’t specifically say “No Young Adult or Sci-Fi projects”.

What about the query? I based my letter on a sample that has you putting all of your info into a single letter – resume of things published, how you plan to sell your project, so on and so forth – whole thing is a page before I get to the synopsis. Do I just take the paragraph you so kindly helped me edit and use that only, plus the first 15 pages?

How much can you tread on the rules they post in WM? I’m scared of running into Nazis who go “I said no sci-fi – this is YA/sci-fi! Into the trash!!” or something. I hate to get all Hunter S Thompson on them – I feel that writing one of his missives would be counter-productive and yet I’m so tempted.

That’s all I can think of at the moment – I promise to pay whatever kindness you show forward.

Dan

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Dear Dan,

Pay it forward– that’s the only rule!

All I can tell you is what I did.

No agent will write this letter, “Loved that first 15 pages! Wish I could read the rest! However, my Writer’s Marketplace entry clearly says I want a query and a synopsis, so I have to pass.”

I ignored their exact requests, because I thought a synopsis would miss the point of what was good about my book, which is that you open to page one and (hopefully) can’t put it down. So I just enclosed a one-paragraph grabber and the first 15 pages, and sent it out to 25 agents at once. 21 said no or never responded. But the week before the book was sold, I had 3 agents vying to represent the book.

I should have emphasized up front that if you’ve published before, you should say that in sentence one. Then start in with your grabber.